Chennai, July 4: The MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship will be shifting gears here this weekend when the second round is held at the MMRT track which will witness a total of 16 races across various categories. The programme also includes the first round of the MMSC fmsci Indian National Drag Racing Championship 2018 on Sunday.

Races will be held in the premier Super Sport Indian 165cc class besides the Pro-Stock (301-400cc and 165cc), Novice (Stock, 165cc) and Girls (Stock, 165cc) categories. Further, two of country’s leading bike manufacturers, Honda and TVS, will be running their own One-Make Championships in association with the MMSC, in the Open and Novice categories.

The most significant development is that for the first time ever in the National championship slick tyres will be used in races. MRF will be supplying slick tyres for the Super Sport Indian 165cc and Pro-Stock 301-400cc categories. This is a path-breaking move as the MRF slick tyres are expected to see improved lap timings in view of the better traction, especially through the corners, they afford than the conventional tyres.

San Giuseppe (Italy), June 25: India’s Ruhaan Alva enjoyed a fairly successful weekend with a podium finish in the fifth round of the Easykart Italian Championship at the Circuit Pomposa, near here on Sunday.

Ruhaan, a 12-year old schoolboy from Bengaluru, supported by Play Factory and Birel Art India, showed good pace throughout the weekend to finish first runner-up in the 100cc category for his first podium of the 2018 championship.

Earlier, Ruhaan qualified sixth for the pre-final round where he finished fourth. He was running third at one point, but was tapped from behind which saw him drop to sixth. However, he fought his way back to end up fourth.

In the final, Ruhaan yet again made places and was all set to catch up the third-placed driver. At this juncture, the two drivers in front retired due to mechanical problems and Ruhaan found himself in second place as he crossed the finish line.

“I am very happy to get back on the podium. My performance this weekend was quite good, though it could have been better. However, the podium has given me lot of confidence after having finished ninth in the previous two rounds. I look forward to carry forward this momentum into the next round in July,” said Ruhaan.

Ruhaan next heads to Adria International Raceway where the sixth round of the championship is scheduled for July 14-15.

Coimbatore, June 24: For the second day running, young Ashwin Datta (MRF F1600) and veteran Arjun Balu (Indian Touring Cars) hogged the limelight with a triple and a double, respectively, as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship concluded at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Sunday.

Datta, a 19-year old from Chennai and making his debut in the MRF F1600 class, finished the weekend by winning all the three races while Balu, 43, marked his return to racing after a five-year break by dominating the premier Indian Touring Cars class where he won both the races in imperious style.

In the morning, Datta, who had won the first race of the triple-header on Saturday, was off to a great start as he made three places in the very first lap before an incident brought out the Safety Car. On re-start, Datta wasted little time to ease past the front-runners and gradually opened up a commanding lead to emerge a creditable winner with Bengaluru teenager Yash Aradhya and Chennai’s Nabil Hussain following him over the finish line.

Datta, in just his third full season of racing, having graduated from junior Formula competitions, sustained the momentum by winning the third MRF F1600 race in the afternoon, this time, from flag to lights despite two Safety Car interruptions.

“The wins are unbelievable. I had good pace through the weekend. My progression in the past couple of seasons has been mainly due to my initial training at Meco Motorsports and later at Momentum Motorsports who nurtured me. Frankly, my target for the weekend was to finish in the top five, but am happy that everything came together,” said the 6ft, 2in tall Ashwin who dropped his weight from 94 Kgs to 72 Kgs in two months to get fit for the races.

Coimbatore, June 23: Teenager Ashwin Datta and Arjun Balu delivered standout victories in the MRF F1600 and Indian Touring Cars categories, respectively, to set alight the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship at the Kari Motor Speedway, here on Saturday.

The two Formula LGB 1300 races witnessed close competition with Sohil Shah (MSport) from Bengaluru winning the first outing after a hectic scrap with team-mate Nabil Hussain from Chennai while Ashwin Datta took the second race that witnessed a couple of crashes, but drivers escaping unhurt. Datta, only 19, drove brilliantly after dropping from second to fourth and overtook three cars to jump to the front and eventually win the race.

In sharp contrast, Ashwin Datta earlier enjoyed an untroubled ride to victory in the first of the three MRF F1600 races scheduled for the weekend. Having started from pole position, Datta drove a near-flawless race to win by the proverbial country mile. Behind him, Raghul Rangasamy, hailing from the temple town of Mamallapuram, fought his way to second spot ahead of Chennai’s Nirmal Umashanker. The remaining two races will be run on Sunday.

Coimbatore, June 22: Local ace and former champion Arjun Balu, driving a Race Concepts-prepared Honda City, marked his return to racing after a five-year gap by topping both the free practice sessions in the premier Indian Touring Cars class as the second round of the MRF MMSC fmsci Indian National Racing Championship got underway at the Kari Motor Speedway here on Friday.

Balu, 43, put in consistent laps in both the sessions at the 2.1 Kms long circuit, clocking a best of 01minute, 09.004 seconds in the first outing and improving it to 01:08.766 in the next. Behind him in the time sheets were Arka Motorsports team-mates Ashish Ramaswamy from Bengaluru and veteran Narayanaswamy Leelakrishnan (Coimbatore). The three drivers looked in a league of their own to set up a close qualifying session on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, Raghul Rangaswamy from Kancheepuram was the fastest in the MRF F1600 free practice sessions with a best of 01:02.672 in FP1 and though his second session was restricted to just two laps to preserve his tyres, no other driver went quicker.

Sandeep Kumar (Chennai) topped the second practice session while Kolkata’s Arya Singh, the 2017 Formula LGB 1300 champion, Chennai’s Ashwin Datta and Nirmal Umashanker, both from Chennai, filled the top four spots in this session, and all separated by less than a second.

Bengaluru’s Varun Anekar (Race Concepts) dominated the two combined practice sessions for Super Stock, Indian Junior Touring Cars and Esteem Cup cars by topping the time sheets as did Chennai driver, Nabil Hussain (MSport) who was the fastest in the Formula LGB 1300 class that has a 19-car grid, clocking a best of 01:08.432 in the first of the two outings.